


The Fever Tree

by DangersUntoldHardshipsUnnumbered



Series: The Soldier and The Spy [3]
Category: Black Panther (2018)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-31 18:09:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13980607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DangersUntoldHardshipsUnnumbered/pseuds/DangersUntoldHardshipsUnnumbered
Summary: A little picnic outside the city





	The Fever Tree

Nakia’s body aches a little from riding all this distance, but she would have it no other way.  Okoye knows her mount, and the great rhinoceros responds to her every gentle, firm command in a way that Nakia loves because she sees in it both Okoye’s fierceness as well as her tenderness.  Every minute in the presence of that is worth whatever mild discomfort comes with it.

They’ve packed food, and ridden out of the city, out into the lushness of the forest.  They are away from the royalty, from the other Dora Milaje, from the teeming streets where people know their names.  It’s been six weeks to the day that she and Okoye have been coming to each other’s beds, sharing meals, weaving strategy, partaking in quiet laughter.  And in all this time, it has remained secret. 

They are wise to be cautious.  Okoye is important. Nakia’s professional success relies upon low visibility.  And then there are the wagging tongues of those they know. They both would just as soon not.

So they’ve come out here to dine together, with a picnic packed in an unassuming basket that Nakia wears on her shoulders, riding on the back of Okoye’s great rhinoceros.  They’ve come away from the city to enjoy each other’s company in the sweet outdoors, under the blushing sky, under the canopy of branches, where barbets pluck dragonflies from the knotted roots and leopards lounge in the yellow branches of fever trees.

Okoye knows these trees, knows the paths, and soon they settle in a clearing and spread their blanket, thick and brightly colored, to sit on.  The pale gold disc of the sun pokes pinhole fingers through the foliage as it descends. Nakia unpacks their simple meal; bread and irio and okra, and sugarcane wine.

“I like it out here,” Nakia says, looking around.  The air buzzes with life. The trees, the soil, the light; she feels a million other living things in the space they occupy.  “It is… not quiet,” she decides, “but it is peaceful.”

Okoye nods.  She takes a drink.  “It is hiding, but… it is a very nice place to hide.”

Nakia frowns for a moment.  “Do you think we are wrong for our discretion?”

Okoye considers her.  “No. But I wish we did not need to have it.”

Nakia wishes this, too.  She wishes they did not have to care who saw them dining together in the marketplace or strolling the softly lit terraces in the evening, arms linked.  But then, they are here, in the gentle forest, drinking sugarcane wine that she has made herself, while Okoye’s great beast stands slumbering under a tree beside them.  They have made for themselves something that requires no explanation. 

Dinner is simple and brief, and the wine is strong enough that they need only a little to feel warm and loose.  Nakia lies on her back and gazes up into the branches of the fever tree, and at the blushing sky that shows, pomegranate-red, in between them.  She reaches up, waggling her fingers a little. “I almost feel I could float away.”

Okoye, lying beside her, chuckles a little.  “I will tie a string around your ankle to keep you here, and drag you around floating behind me like a balloon.”

Nakia gives her a sidelong glance.  “If you wanted that sort of thing, you only had to ask.”  Okoye says nothing but is clearly amused. “No,” Nakia sighs, “there is no need…. the fever tree’s branches will catch me and keep me from floating away.”

Okoye turns over onto her side and wraps an arm and a leg around Nakia.  “I will be the fever tree. I will keep you from floating away.”

Nakia sighs.  “So we stay on the ground, then?”

Okokye nods and kisses her neck.  “Yes. But many wonderful things can happen on the ground.”

The sun sets.  The sky goes from red to plum to black and stars wink to life.  She tastes the sweet fruit of Okoye’s mouth and melts into the shape of her muscled body.  They make love in the open, with the warm night breezes on their skin and the whole of nature in its infinite grace to approve of them.  It is enough. More than enough. Nakia forgets why she wanted to float away. There will always be people in the city to avoid. But there will always be Okoye, and the forest, and the bright yellow branches of the fever trees.  Okoye’s limbs catch and cradle and surround her, and she lounges, leopard-like, gazing at her, reassured of the existence of the stars.


End file.
